Those with more than a passing interest in the game of cricket will have some idea of the different conditions that exist around the globe.
From the high, bouncy pitches in Australia and South Africa, to the seaming conditions in blustery England and the dustbowls of the sub-continent, cricketers accept that playing in different conditions is a part of the sport.
The Australians, in the recent Test match against India in Nagpur, were confronted with a pitch that Steve Smith stated contained a “section there that’s quite dry”, specifically referring to areas outside the off stump for left handed batsmen, rough areas ideal for spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Australia, it should be noted had six left handed batsmen in their top order.
Ravichandran Ashwin (Photo by Peter Mundy/Speed Media/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Cricket writer Robert Craddock was less diplomatic calling it “straight-up pitch doctoring”. Former Australian Test batsman Simon O’Donnell called for the ICC to step in. Amid the howls of discontent from Australian media, the Aussies were rolled for 177 and 91 in response to India’s total of 400.
The ICC does not have specific rules for pitch doctoring. There is nothing in the official rules that prevents any host nation from preparing pitches to suit their own players and directly disadvantage visiting teams. The ICC does however rate surfaces, specifically the pitch and outfield, after a match has been played to “assist in future pitch and outfield preparations”.
So far, only a handful of matches have been called off due to an unsafe surface, including the infamous 1998 Sabina Park mess, in which a (literally) bruised England limped to 3/17 against the pace of the Windies before the umpires called the game off due to an unpredictably dangerous pitch. So, it would seem that the chief concern is safety, not fairness.
Of course, the recent situation in India is a little different and for two main reasons. The first is that different parts of the pitch were targeted differently for very specific reasons, to impede one type of player rather than all players out in the middle. The second is that players doctoring the ball to advantage is arguably different to the curators trying to achieve the same thing with the pitch.
The players, by rubbing the ball against their trousers to achieve swing, are doing it publicly, in view of the opposition and as a part of the game. Both sides have the same opportunity to do so. The players face sanctions for tampering with the ball illegally, the curators are largely faceless identities that face no such retribution for doctoring a pitch.
Of course, the Australians are no strangers to the idea of changing conditions to their own advantage.
Doctoring, or ball tampering, is essentially the art of changing the way the ball, once released from the hand of the bowler, travels through the air towards the batsman. Cricket is a game of millimetres; the barest of feather edges off the bat caught by a wicketkeeper results in a dismissal. So it makes perfect sense that players and teams will take every (usually legal) opportunity to create as many issues for the batter as possible.
“Same pitch,” Indian captain Rohit Sharma (a right handed batsman) replied after the match. “It’s beyond my understanding why there is so much talk about the pitch. It’s sad to see there is not enough talk about skills, of the bowler, of the batter.”
And to be fair, he has a good point. Australia bizarrely selected David Warner who, if not for his 200 at the MCG against South Africa, wouldn’t have been selected for the match in the first place, given his woeful Indian average of 24.25 in 14 innings.
David Warner is bowled by Mohammed Shami. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
India’s two left handed batsmen, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, made 70 and 84 between them. No, the reason India thumped Australia wasn’t that India has a predominance of right handed batsmen vs Australia’s lefties, it was because they simply played better cricket.
Is pitch doctoring cheating? According to the ICC, the answer is no and there is no evidence to suggest that it played a definitive role in India’s win over Australia. Call it a home ground advantage. In the spirit of the game? Arguable. A great look for the sport? Probably not.
Juice
Guest
But Krak, biased much?
sunil banerjee
Roar Rookie
Cheating... I wonder what do you call pulling out some sandpaper from your underwear and shining the ball with it? Just asking.
Jacko
Roar Rookie
Why are Aus pitches always bouncy and have movement? Blatant pitch fixing or just Aus's local pitches? Indai pitches have been exactely the same for the 50 plus years Ive watched cricket. No Pitch fixing at all.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Tests were still being played on matting pitches in some countries until the 1950s. WI, Pak and SA each hosted some. The visiting team needed to make sure that the matting was stretched to just the right tightness each morning, and that no rogue stones were left underneath.
Shire
Roar Rookie
Australia had a case that the pitch was unfairly prepared to target their heavily left-handed batting line-up, which is an aberration in terms of historical pitch preparation. A uniformly turning surface is absolutely fine and indeed, expected, in India. Unfortunately, the Australians don't really have a leg to stand on after their abysmal batting performance. The game didn't really progress far enough for the pitch to become an issue. I'd say that a line needs to be drawn between "curation" and "doctoring". Curation is simply preparing the pitches that your players are most comfortable playing on, and while I would prefer that all grounds have a personality and style of their own, I won't begrudge a team for preparing pitches which suit their batting or bowling line-up. Doctoring is the term I would use when something obviously out of the ordinary occurs, such was the case here with the heavily discoloured patches outside of the left-hander's off stump.
varun sharma
Roar Rookie
How you stop it I think it's inbuilt in our players passed on from previous players, who still whinge non-stop on TV, radio and news papers.
varun sharma
Roar Rookie
Indian captain straight on point lets just talk about skills of players. Almost all Australian batsmen got out with poor shot selections, trying to play across, reverse sweeps etc. If one team score 400 on same pitch, its just hard to understand all the talk about the surface. Happens all the time when Aus play in India. I don't think any other media make more noise than ours here. I don't see Indian team complaining about fast bouncy green tracks here, they just roll their sleeves up and play cricket. Which reflects in their recent dominance in Aus and England.
RAdelaide
Roar Rookie
The fact that all this pitch talk is getting to the head of the coaching staff is the red flag for me. After the game, Macdonald called these as "extreme conditions" and they were anything but. It was apparent to everyone post game that Australia had just psyched themselves with the gremlins in the pitch. It would augur well for the team to have a strict "no whinging" policy and get on with playing whats on offer. If it is dangerous the umpires, match referee will step in. Let the pitch talk just remain as noise in the media and not let it distract you.
whymuds
Roar Rookie
How could you fine India? They have a strong case. Scored 400 after losing the toss, a few lower order left handed batsmen scored 50s. Hardly a single left handed Aussie batsmen went out to an Indian left arm spinner with the ball pitching outside off. Not a great deal of evidence to back up the accusation aside for the montage of 4 photos posted to Twitter.
The Immortal Scott Minto
Roar Rookie
Agree with the above comment that India have us beaten before a ball is bowled, no need to doctor the pitch. Correct me if I'm wrong but it was an Indian journalist who broke the story. A legitimate disgrace for the game of cricket. This low act made me lose all interest in the series. Ball tampering, refusing our side the chance to train on the pitch etc was the icing on the cake. Bring on the footy season!
Krak
Guest
Blatant cheating. I don't think I have ever seen members of Australia's coaching staff directing pitch preparation. Thing is I don't understand why, India would beat Australia anyway so why are they so insecure that they have to cheat to make sure it is not a contest.
BloodyRobRoy
Guest
If the Aussies have any chance in this series, they need to show some brains. And please try, rotating the strike. And to the selector, don’t pick injured players and give Dad’s army a rest. Renshaw, Khawaja, Labu, Smith, Head, Handscombe (due to Green’s injury solely) and Carey. There is your 7. 3 players in their late 20s and 4 in their 30s. Still too old, but at least some semblance of not all retiring at once.
The Sports Lover
Roar Rookie
Cheating or media blow up? Media blow up for mine!